Thursday, January 05, 2006

Colo. Town Raises Taxes to Finance NCLB Withdrawal --

From Civilrights.org January 4, 2006 they list their source as David J. Hoff from Education Week.

If only:

Residents of a Colorado town have decided they would rather pay more in taxes than force their tiny district to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In what is believed to be the first voter referendum on the 4-year-old federal law, taxpayers in the 95-student Kit Carson school district narrowly approved a property-tax levy to replace the $25,000 in federal money the district will lose by dropping out of the law.

"It felt like the federal government had overstepped its bounds," said Geoffrey Wolff, the president of the Kit Carson school board. "I believe in a limited federal involvement. They provide 3 percent of the money, and they want total control."...

Despite having teachers who may not be considered highly qualified under the law, the district has met targets for adequate yearly progress under the law, Mr. Wolff said.

While Ms. Johnson, the dissenting board member, agrees that such rules are onerous for Kit Carson and other rural districts, she said that federal officials are committed to finding "common sense" solutions to problems that districts such as Kit Carson face in complying with NCLB.

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